System for coupling wireless repeater donor and server units over cable

ABSTRACT

A three hop wireless repeater is disclosed, including a donor unit having transmit and receive antennas for wireless communication with one or more cellular base stations, and a server unit having transmit and receive antennas for wireless communication with the donor unit and with one or more wireless communication devices. The repeater further includes a physical cable interconnect between the donor unit and the server unit. The physical cable interconnect includes a donor unit sleeve having donor unit coupling antennas to inductively couple signals to and from the transmit and receive antennas of the donor unit, and a server unit sleeve having server unit coupling antennas to inductively couple signals to and from the transmit and receive antennas of the server unit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/038,166 filed on Aug. 15, 2014, titled,“System for Coupling wireless Repeater Donor and Server Units OverCable”, which is here by incorporated by reference in its entirety

BACKGROUND

Three-hop wireless repeaters are well known and provide numerousbenefits over more traditional two-hop repeaters. These include improvedcoverage areas and higher system gain. A three-hop repeater consists ofa donor unit, also called a “network unit,” which communicates with acellular base station, and a server unit, also called a “coverage unit,”that communicates with one or more cellular handsets or othercommunication devices. However, three-hop wireless repeaters can oftenexperience communication issues on any of the three hops, such as lowbandwidth, dropped communication, and low throughput.

SUMMARY

In a three-hop wireless repeater, the donor unit and server units needto be connected to each other to relay the signals between the handsetsand the base station. This document describes a three hop wirelessrepeater that utilizes various media, including a wired connection, toconnect the donor unit with the server unit, for enhanced performance,and increased speeds.

In this disclosure, a system is described to provide a cable-based linkbetween the donor and server units of a wirelessly connected donor andserver unit of three-hop repeater system. The basic design includes a“sleeve” that is designed to fit over the donor and server units and anantenna assembly that is designed and strategically positioned on thesleeve to inductively couple the RF signals emanating from the donor andserver units onto a cable such as a copper co-axial cable.

In one aspect, a three hop wireless repeater includes a donor unithaving transmit and receive antennas for wireless communication with oneor more cellular base stations, and a server unit having transmit andreceive antennas for wireless communication with the donor unit and withone or more wireless communication devices. The repeater furtherincludes a physical cable interconnect between the donor unit and theserver unit. The physical cable interconnect includes a donor unitsleeve having donor unit coupling antennas to inductively couple signalsto and from the transmit and receive antennas of the donor unit, and aserver unit sleeve having server unit coupling antennas to inductivelycouple signals to and from the transmit and receive antennas of theserver unit.

In another aspect, a communication system includes a donor unit havingtransmit and receive antennas for wireless communication with one ormore cellular base stations, and a server unit having transmit andreceive antennas for wireless communication with the donor unit and withone or more wireless communication devices. The system further includesa donor unit sleeve having donor unit coupling antennas to inductivelycouple signals to and from the transmit and receive antennas of thedonor unit, and a server unit sleeve having server unit couplingantennas to inductively couple signals to and from the transmit andreceive antennas of the server unit. The system further includes aphysical cable connected between the donor unit sleeve and the serverunit sleeve.

The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features and advantages willbe apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects will now be described in detail with referenceto the following drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a sleeve having a cable connection betweendonor antenna(s) and server antenna(s) of a wireless repeater.

FIG. 2 illustrates a wireless repeater and sleeve with connectors toallow attachment of co-axial cable between donor antenna(s) and serverantenna(s).

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A three-hop wireless repeater includes a donor unit and a server unit.The donor and server units need to be connected to each other to relaythe signals between the handsets and the base station. An example of asystem using a wireless link to connect the donor and server units isthe Cel-Fi® system from Nextivity, Inc., and as described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/369,231, filed Mar. 2, 2006 and entitled“Short-Range Cellular Booster;” U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/597,119 filed Jul. 12, 2006 and entitled “Short-Range CellularBooster;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/015,469, filed Jan.16, 2008 and entitled “Multi-Hop Booster,” the contents of each of whichare incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.

In some implementations, a system includes a physical cable-based linkbetween the donor and server units of a wirelessly connected donor andserver unit of a three-hop repeater system. The system includes a“sleeve” that is configured to fit over the donor and server units, andan antenna assembly that is configured and strategically positioned onthe sleeve to inductively couple the RF signals emanating from the donorand server units onto a physical cable such as a co-axial copper cable.A block diagram of the proposed system is shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a wireless repeater 100 includes a donor unit 102and a server unit 104. The donor unit 102 includes transmit and receiveantennas 103 for wireless communication with a cellular base station(not shown) and the server unit 104, and the server unit 104 includestransmit and receive antennas 105 for wireless communication with thedonor unit 102 and with one or more cellular handsets or othercommunication devices (not shown).

The wireless repeater 100 further includes a donor unit connectivitysleeve 106 having coupling antennas 107 (transmit and receive) and aserver unit connectivity sleeve 108 having coupling antennas 109(transmit and receive). The coupling antennas 107, 109 are designed andpositioned to inductively couple signals to and from transmit andreceive antennas 103, 105 of the donor unit 102 and server unit 104,respectively. Each of the connectivity sleeves 106 and 108 includes acable connector 110 and 112, respectively, for transmitting the signalsfrom the coupling antennas 107, 109 over a physical cable 114. Thephysical cable 114 can be a copper coaxial cable or other wire-basedcable. In alternative implementations, the physical cable can be a fiberoptic cable, twisted pair cable, or other physical and conductivemedium.

As discussed above, in preferred exemplary implementations, each sleeve106, 108 contains two antennas to couple the Rx and Tx signals from thedonor and server units 102, 104, respectively. The signals to and fromthese antennas are combined into one signal, typically using a duplexeror combiner circuit. The output of the combiner is then connected to thephysical cable 114, which in turn relays the signal to the remote side,i.e. the other of the connectivity sleeves. In some preferred exemplaryimplementations, as shown in FIG. 1, only passive components areutilized. In alternative implementations, an active system can beemployed where low power signals are boosted by an active component suchas an amplifier to increase the length of cable that can be used.

FIG. 2 illustrates a three-hop repeater system 200 including a donorunit 202 and a server unit 204. The donor unit 202 includes transmit andreceive antennas for wireless communication with a cellular base stationand the server unit 204, and the server unit 204 includes transmit andreceive antennas for wireless communication with the donor unit 202 andwith one or more cellular handsets or other wireless communicationdevices.

In the implementation shown, each of the donor unit 202 and the serverunit 204 includes a sleeve 206, 208, respectively, that can housecoupling antennas. Connectors allow attachment of co-axial cable toconnect donor and server units 202 and 204. The antennas are designedand positioned to inductively couple signals to and from normal antennasin the donor and server units.

Although a few embodiments have been described in detail above, othermodifications are possible. Other embodiments may be within the scope ofthe following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A communication system comprising: a donorunit having transmit and receive antennas for wireless communicationwith one or more cellular base stations; a server unit having transmitand receive antennas for wireless communication with the donor unit andwith one or more wireless communication devices; and a physical cableinterconnect between the donor unit and the server unit, the physicalcable interconnect comprising a donor unit sleeve having donor unitcoupling antennas to inductively couple signals to and from the transmitand receive antennas of the donor unit, and a server unit sleeve havingserver unit coupling antennas to inductively couple signals to and fromthe transmit and receive antennas of the server unit.
 2. The system inaccordance with claim 1, wherein the physical cable interconnectincludes a donor unit combiner circuit to combine the signals from thetransmit antenna of the donor unit.
 3. The system in accordance withclaim 2, wherein the physical cable interconnect further includes aserver unit combiner circuit to combine the signals from the transmitantenna of the server unit.
 4. The system in accordance with claim 3,wherein the physical cable interconnect includes a physical cableconnected between the donor unit combiner circuit and the server unitcombiner circuit.
 5. The system in accordance with claim 4, wherein thephysical cable includes a coaxial cable.
 6. A communication systemcomprising: a donor unit having transmit and receive antennas forwireless communication with one or more cellular base stations; a serverunit having transmit and receive antennas for wireless communicationwith the donor unit and with one or more wireless communication devices;a donor unit sleeve having donor unit coupling antennas to inductivelycouple signals to and from the transmit and receive antennas of thedonor unit; a server unit sleeve having server unit coupling antennas toinductively couple signals to and from the transmit and receive antennasof the server unit; and a physical cable connected between the donorunit sleeve and the server unit sleeve.
 7. The system in accordance withclaim 6, wherein the physical cable includes a coaxial cable.
 8. Thesystem in accordance with claim 6, wherein the donor unit sleeveincludes a donor unit combiner circuit to combine the signals from thetransmit antenna of the donor unit.
 9. The system in accordance withclaim 8, wherein the server unit sleeve further includes a server unitcombiner circuit to combine the signals from the transmit antenna of theserver unit.
 10. The system in accordance with claim 3, wherein each ofthe combiner circuits includes a connector for connecting with thephysical cable.